Portfolio: Vanguard introduces fund

Vanguard Tuesday announced the introduction of Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund, the company’s first international fixed income offering available to U.S. investors.

The fund is now accepting investments during a subscription period that will extend through the end of business on May 30. During the period, the fund will invest in money market instruments as it accumulates sufficient assets to construct a representative, diversified portfolio. The fund’s ETF shares are scheduled to begin trading in early June.

Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund is intended for investors who are willing to accept the higher risk of emerging markets bonds relative to the collective fixed income market. Vanguard suggests that only investors with well-diversified, balanced investment programs consider the fund for a portion of their overall holdings.

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On the web: vanguard.com.

CROPS: Based on May 1 conditions, Pennsylvania’s 2013 production of winter wheat is expected to be 17 percent above 2012, the state agriculture department reported. Final total tobacco production figures for 2012 were up 11 percent from 2011. May 1 hay stocks are estimated to be down 33 percent from a year ago, according to the Pennsylvania office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Winter wheat harvested acreage is forecast at 175,000 acres, up 30,000 acres from last year. Based on the condition of the crop as of May 1, yield is forecast at 63 bushels per acre, down 2 bushels per acre from last year’s final yield. If realized, that would result in a production of 11 million bushels, compared to the 2012 final production of 9.4 million bushels.

LUNG CANCER: The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a genetic test from Roche to help doctors identify patients who can benefit from a lung cancer drug made by the company’s Genentech unit.

The diagnostic test is the first approved to detect genetic mutations found in roughly 10 percent of patients with the most prevalent form of lung cancer, known as non-small cell lung cancer.

Patients who test positive for the mutation are more likely to respond to Genentech’s drug Tarceva as a first-choice treatment, and the FDA said it expanded the drug’s approval for that use in its announcement. The drug was originally approved in 2004 as a second-line option after patients failed to respond to chemotherapy.

Lung cancer is the deadliest form of cancer among men and women in the U.S. and is expected to kill nearly 160,000 people this year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Company studies found that patients with the genetic mutation detected by Roche’s test lived more than 10 months without their disease progressing, when treated with Tarceva. That compared to more than five months for patients taking a standard chemotherapy drug combination.

“The approval of the cobas EGFR Mutation Test will allow physicians to identify non-small cell lung cancer patients who are candidates for receiving Tarceva as first line therapy,” said Alberto Gutierrez, director of the FDA’s office for diagnostics, in a statement. “Companion diagnostics play an important role in determining which therapies are the safest and most effective for a particular patient.

The test approved by the FDA is one of a number of “cobas” diagnostics developed by Roche.